Dal Stuffed Poori Recipe | How to make Stuffed Dal Puri Step by Step Recipe | Navaratri Recipes

Coming to the delicious stuffed poori that I made for the Vijayadasami Lunch, it's a recipe I found while I was looking for special dishes made for the Navaratri Pooja. One fact that was interesting during the research was the fact that the dishes made during this Pooja in North, differs so much to what is made in South. Now I am not separating into west and east, but just on a broad classification. 

I was determined that the lunch was to be special and I felt it's not unless you offer fried food. Though I had planned to start early, with the different methods the recipes called for, I was still late. I had yet to make the Maddur Vadas that was long pending, so decided that I must complete these pooris at least for the pooja. While the pooja was going on, I finally managed to make the Maddur Vada, seeing that recipe called for such basic ingredients. Will be blogging about it tomorrow.

The stuffed Dal pooris made a delicious combination with the Mixed Vegetable Kurma. You must surely make this and enjoy your special day.

Step by Step Picture Recipe

Dal Stuffed Puri Recipe

Ingredients Needed:

For the Dough

Wheat flour - 1 cup
Blackgram dal / Urad Dal - 1/2 cup
Water enough to knead
Salt To taste

For the Masala

Red Chillies - 3 nos
Cardamon - 1
Cloves - 4 nos.
Cinnamon 1/2"

Oil To fry

How to make Stuffed Dal Poori / Puri

Making the Dough:

In a wide bowl, take the wheat flour, add salt and mix well. Slowly add water and knead to a stiff dough.

Making the Stuffing:

Soak Urad dal for 1 hour

In a mixer take the whole spices, pulse it couple of times for the spices to blend.

then add the drained urad dal, a pinch of salt to the blended spices. Sprinkle some water for the paste to run smoothly.

Heat a non stick pan with 1 tsp oil, add the ground urad paste and saute till it becomes dry. It's quite difficult to fry this in a regular pan, non stick pan makes this easier. Most of the urad dal might get struck to the pan, will not be able to save much though.

Making the Stuffed Pooris

Knead the dough once again and pich out small balls. Flatten the sides and make sure the middle is thick, place a small amount of dal stuffing in middle and enclose completely making sure the dal doesn't come out. This is same as how you will do Aloo Stuffed parathas.

Heat a kadai with oil just enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot, gently drop in the rolled out pooris.

Notes:

Proceed making the pooris just as you do with regular pooris. Though the recipe asks you to rest the dough, from my experience I have noticed that when the poori dough rests for more time, it tends to absorb more oil.
I forgot to add Cumin seeds for the Urad Dal masala, though I am sure it must have added so much more flavour.
Though I was thinking that the cardamon might make it sweet, the stuffing was prefect by the chilies added.

Serve it with Mixed Vegetable Kurma. This was our special Vijayadasami Lunch

Tawa Naan Recipe | Making Naan on Tawa - Step by Step Recipe

When I baked a Naan sometime back, I realized that I actually make the Naans couple of ways. So thought that recording all the different ways to make a naan will be interesting. If you have been reading this blog you may know that I am great fan of Naan and Paneer Butter Masala. This is what I order each time I eat at a restaurant. I don't think I can ever get bored of the duo or the different versions I can count that I have enjoyed by now.

I think I started making Nan at home almost ever since I started baking Pizzas. Since we don't have a tandoori oven, it was naturally that I had to find an alternate method. I have been making on the Pressure cooker bottom or even the tilted tawa method for over a decade now. And what's surprising is the fact that the Naan dough is almost the same as Pizza dough or at least that's how I have been making it. Wonder how the best dishes I like are almost the same. 

Anyway I used to enjoy the feedback my Naans used to get and one particular conversation comes to mind. It was during dining in our club restaurant when the waiter happen to mention that their Naans come out best and nobody can replicate it at home. Konda immediate response was that I make yummier Naans and Paneer Butter Masala. He was not ready to accept and said Naan would require egg to be added for the soft texture to come etc, knowing well that I don't eat egg. Anyway I said I didn't want to argue on whose recipe is best. I would rather enjoy their restaurant Naans myself.

When I think of the recipe, I keep changing the ingredients myself most times. I have used curds, butter, milk at varying proportions to get the best texture. Each it does turn out very well. So I guess it depends on how and when you make it.

3 Ways of Making Naan at Home
Baked Naans
Stove top Naans Recipe 1
Stove top Naans Recipe 2

And this is the third method!
For step by step pictures of kneading the dough, please refer Baked Naans

Once you ready with the naan dough, pinch out small balls. Dust well and roll out as oval shaped disc

Heat a tawa or griddle. Place the rolled out naan / griddle/ skillet

Cook on one side, you will see the naan puffing up.

See how nicely it has puffed up!

Flip to the other side and continue cooking.

Turn over again and remove.

Smear butter right away on the hot Naan.

Tawa Naan | Making Naan on Tawa

Preparation Time : 15 mins
Resting Time : 1 -2 hrs
Cooking time : 2 -3 mins per Naan

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Dry Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Curds - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water as required.

Method to prepare:

Proofing the Yeast:
Take the yeast in a cup; add the sugar and warm water. Cover with lid. After 10 minutes you will see all frothy texture on the top, don’t disturb. Keep it aside. This shows that yeast is still active.

In a wide bowl, take the flour, add the yeast mix. Then add the salt. butter and curds. Crumble well.  Slowly knead to soft pliable dough using water as required. Punch it well for couple of minutes.

Cover with a wet muslin cloth and keep it in a warm place for 1 -2 hrs. Once done, remove the cover, punch it down again. For making on tawa you need not wait for 2 hrs, the dough gets ready by 30 - 40 mins max.

When you are ready to make,  get the tawa on stove.

Divide the dough into small balls, dust it in flour. Roll them into oval shapes.

Make couple of them all rolled out by the time the tawa gets heated up.

Place the rolled out Naan on the tawa. Cook on high flame. You will see the Naan puffing up. Gently flip to the other side. The Naan puffs up on both sides.

Remove and quickly apply butter over the top.

Note: It is enough to cook on the tawa for the naan to be done well. If you want those classic black spots on the top, you can put the cooked naans on direct flame using a tong. This way your naan will have those traditional brown/black spots on top.

Serve this with Paneer Butter Masala or even Low Cal Paneer Butter Masala in Microwave

Sweet Potato Paratha | Sweet Potato Indian Flatbread

I love Sweet potatoes! And always loved eating it as such. There are always certain things that you just eat as such and never can imagine it being incorporated in a dish right. Sweet Potatoes are such things for me. Shakarkand as it is called in Hindi, we call it Genusa gadda in Telugu. 

This month when Harini announced her Design a Menu Event, I checked in to see what ingredients she listed. When I saw Sweet Potato as one of the mandatory ingredient, I knew I ought to make these parathas. The first time I remember reading this paratha being made with Sweet Potato, was when I started blogging. Since then I have seen sweet pototo being used in different ways. But paratha is the best way to use it. 

I remember Richa posting this and checked to see how she made it. Though I don't normally add hing to my parathas, I saw it was used and wanted to experiment with it. It gave a nice taste and since I can never make without adding jeera powder, I added that too to the dough.

I always make parathas two ways, one stuffed way and the other blended with the flour. When you blend the stuffing mix to the flour you can end up making the parathas much quicker than the regular stuffed way.

We had these for our breakfast this morning with just Curds and Avakkai and can tell you that it was simply too good.

Sweet Potato Paratha

Sweet potatoes, boiled - 1 big
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Turmeric powder a pinch
Red Chili powder - 3/4 tsp
Roasted Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing a pinch
Salt to taste
Coriander Leaves - 1 tbsp
Curds / Yogurt - 2 tsp
Water to knead the dough
Oil to cook the paratha

Method to prepare:

Pressure Cook the sweet potatoes and peel once it cools down.

In a bowl, take the wheat flour, spices, salt, curds, coriander leaves and mashed sweet potatoes. Mix well to incorporate the spices in to the flour.

Add water as required to knead into a soft and smooth dough. Keep aside for 10 mins.

Heat a griddle/tava. Roll into medium sized parathas and cook like a regular paratha, spreading a few drops of oil on both the sides while cooking them.

Serve with Curds and pickle of your choice.

These parathas tend to be very soft because of the potatoes and make a great start to the day.

Sending this to Harini for her Design a Menu Event.

I might make Masala Vada , Mamidikaya Annam ~ Mango Rice,
Menthakku Pappu , Godumai Halwa ~ Wheat Halwa, Chocolate dipped Strawberry.

This is also going for my Breakfast Mela, which is going on until May 20th.

Naan without Tandoor Oven | How to make Naan on Stove top | Step by Step Recipe

This is the second method of making Naans at home. As I said in my previous post on Baked Naans, the regular method I make Naans when I make it at home is normally on the Stove top. I have another recipe for making Naan on Stove top which is quite simple one. Whereas this recipe turns out little richer as I added butter to the dough.

When you are as fond of Naans as I am, then making these on the stove top will please you as nothing else. I really didn't find any difference in the taste or texture from the ones I made on the stove top and you can easily make anyone believe that you made it using a tandoor oven.

Please refer Baked Naans for pictorials on making the dough. In this post I will be posting only about how to make the Naans on the Stove top. Basically you can use two ways to do this.

Using Pressure Cooker bottom:

Prepare the dough as I have mentioned in the Baked Naans.


Roll them out and keep them ready.

Two already rolled out..

Apply water on the top surface.

Take a pressure cooker pan, invert to have the bottom facing you. Now lift the naan and place with the water applied side over the bottom. Meaning the side applied with water goes face down. It will get stuck or glued to the bottom and will not fall down. 

Switch on the burner, Take the pressure pan over it. Can you see the bubbles starting to get formed?

Take it further closer to get the entire area covered over fire. When the Naan gets cooked, the entire surface will be having brown spots like below.

Mostly when it is cooked on all spots, it falls off the pan. Else using a tong, remove it and show the side that was stick on the pan over the flame for further cooking.

 Cut into small pieces and apply butter over it when it is still hot!

Using Flat Cast Iron Skillet or Tawa.

Same as Pressure cooker, grease one side of the rolled out Naan. Stick the naan over the tawa and reverse over the flame. This is the ones we use to make Dosas or Chapathis.

The cooking method is the same, but cooking on tawa gets done faster. But take care not to use a non stick tawa or else you will end up spoiling by the direct flame.

3 Ways of Making Naan at Home
Baked Naans
Stove top Naans Recipe 1 or Stove top Naans Recipe 2 (this method)

Up coming next will be of course How to make Tawa Naan!

Have a great week ahead!

How to bake Naan in Oven | Baked Naan | 3 ways of Making Naans at home | Step by Step Recipe

For all my love for Naan and Paneer Butter Masala, I don't make the Naan that often at home. The times I make, yes we really enjoy the wholesome feel it gives us. When we order North Indian Food, it is never anything else than Butter Naan for me, and hubby dear says I have influenced my kids to such levels that they don't anything else too. I reply saying Kids love the best things.

We don't eat out that often these days. But during the days we did, I could easily recommend whose Naan was best and where to get lip smacking Paneer Butter Masala. When it comes to Naans, hubby dear is even particular that we tuck it in the moment it lands on the table. Those pillows soft pristine specked with brown spots which gleam sparklingly the shiny butter, hot to touch, but soft as a feather disappearing the moment you put it in. Leaves you wondering where the entire piece disappeared.

I know I sound mean, but especially at such moments someone or the other will disturb me and I will be most reluctant to take my eyes off from the task at hand. Still there are few places that you can never forget, for me it used to be a small eatery joint near my old office. Used to go there for lunch and always used to order one dish Aloo Punjabi with Butter Naans. Later after marriage, I used to convince hubby dear to take me there for dinner. That's when I remember those soft delicious Naans.

Coming to the recipe at hand, since I don't have a Tandoori Oven, I always make it on stove top and I always get the restaurant effect. Since then I have always wanted to make a baked version and also Tawa version. I have already blogged one recipe made on the stove without the Tandoori Oven; I have used the same method using Pressure Cooker bottom or Tawa bottom. Depends on how you want to make you can.

This recipe is different meaning I have used a different proportion. Both recipes work out well.

Today's post will be featuring Baked Naan, since I took pictures of all the steps. Other two methods follow the same recipe.

Though I have baked a pizza base, which is also quite similar to the Naan recipe, pizza base gets a nice brown because of the cheese and other stuffs, while Naan is plain. Unlike the Tandoori Oven those brown spots are not formed, which is why I always make it on the stove top.

But since having an oven, wanted to give it a shot. This was a recipe shared by the MW Chef, I had made the Low Calorie Paneer Butter Masala with these Baked Naan.

 Take the flour in a bowl.

 Proof the Yeast in warm water.

Add the yeast mix to the flour

Followed by curds/Yogurt and butter.

Crumble together.

Continue kneading to form an elastic texture, dust your palm and continue kneading.

Until you get a soft pliable dough

Make into small balls and keep it aside.

If you keep it covered it works out better.

Over out into oval shaped Naans

All ready to be baked!

Baked for the first 3 minutes

Remove and turn over

After the next 3 minutes

Gone again for another 4 minutes

Finally all baked completely.

Baked Naan | Indian Microwave Convectional Recipe

Preparation Time : 15 mins

Resting Time : 1 -2 hrs

Baking Time : 10 mins in Convection Mode

Ingredients Needed:

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Dry Yeast - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Curds - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water as required.

Method to prepare:

Proofing the Yeast:
Take the yeast in a cup; add the sugar and warm water. Cover with lid. After 10 minutes you will see all frothy texture on the top, don’t disturb. Keep it aside. This shows that yeast is still active.

In a wide bowl, take the flour, add the yeast mix. Then add the salt. butter and curds. Crumble well.  Slowly knead to soft pliable dough. Punch it well for couple of minutes.

Cover with a wet muslin cloth and keep it in a warm place for 1 -2 hrs. Once done, remove the cover, punch it down again.

Divide into small balls, dust it in flour. Roll them into oval shapes. Make the whole batch while the oven gets heated up. Pre heat the oven at 155 degree. 

Place the rolled out Naan on the tray, bake for 3 minutes. Remove, turn and continue baking for another 3 minutes. 

First time you will have to bake it for 6 mins, then for 4 more minutes. So total cooking time will be about 10 together. Though the bread will be baked, it won't be having those typical signs of a Tandoori Naan. 

Remove and quickly apply butter over the top.

Other Naan Recipes

Naan made on stove top recipe 1

Serve this with Paneer Butter Masala or even Low Cal Paneer Butter Masala

Peas Stuffed Indian Flatbread ~ Mattar Paratha Recipe two ways, Step by Step Recipe!

Sometimes you follow traditions because you have always followed them. It's got to do more with the fact that you feel nice knowing everything is same and nice. Though change is the only constant thing in life, you feel good assuming things are the same. How I wish it was so!

Though I decide I should never remember this day or make a big thing of it, Konda has been reminding me since the month beginning. Infact she is paining something for me, which is partial showed to me too. But Hubby dear has given me strict orders to act surprised and happy on receiving it. I tell him that I can hardly know how to act surprised, happy that I am.

Coming back to traditions, I have unwittingly created one by deciding that stuffed parathas will be made around this time. Infact true to the thought I searched through my Index, which by the way still needs to be updated, for one that I have not talked about. Going up and down, struck me something pretty in green is missing. I remembered Peas Paratha from all those years ago.

I remembered that period after I completed my under graduation and before I started working, Best are some time never spoken about, but still those memories come back and you have no control on the thoughts that flash across. I remember that time quite well, as I remember every single other day as well. During that time, our neighbours had two girls. The elder one was a medico and was away, while the younger was still in school. The younger one R, was with whom I spent most times. And Peas Paratha reminds me of her Aunty, her mom.

R was mostly into North Indian food, wouldn't like anything else. During the peas season when Aunty was wondering what to do with that, we decided we will make a paratha out of it. So it was. And it was such a hit that we only had Peas paratha for a long long time to come.

But the fact is, its been long time since I made this. And wondering which one to make, Peas paratha came to mind. How nice! Since I had fresh peas on hand, it was very easy to plan to make this. But instead of dinner, I made it for breakfast on the day that was going to be last one of the year.

I make it two ways. One blended with the dough, the other stuffed. You can add the same masala for both ways. Though I changed a bit to differentiate them.

Peas Stuffed Indian Flatbread ~ Mattar Paratha Recipe

Preparation Time : 15 mins
Cooking Time : 15 mins
Cuisine : North Indian

Peas Stuffed Paratha

For the dough

Wheat flour 1 cup
Salt to taste
Water to knead

For the Peas Stuffing.

Cooked Peas -1 cup, pureed
Green Chili paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Amchor - 1/4 tsp

Method to prepare:

Knead the flour to a soft pliable dough and keep aside.

If you are using fresh peas, puree it to smooth paste. 

Fry in a pan along with salt and all the other ingredients till you get a dry paste. Allow it to cool and make into small balls.

Pinch a lemon size balls, press the sides of the ball to thinner and place the peas stuffing in the middle, bring the outer layer towards the center and enclose the stuffing.

Dust the balls with flour and roll out into disc equal on all sides. 

 

Heat a pan and cook on both sides by applying oil.

Peas Paratha Recipe

For the dough

Wheat flour 1 cup
Salt to taste
Water to knead

For the Peas Masala

Cooked Peas -1 cup, pureed
Onions -1 small
Green Chili paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method to prepare

In a wide mouthed bowl, take the flour, pureed peas, onions, all the spice masala along with salt. Knead to a soft dough. Let it rest for 10 mins

Pinch out equal balls of dough, roll out by dusting in flour into disc of 6 diameter. Once the tawa is hot, grease with oil, cook these parathas on high flame, making sure you don't burn it.

 Cook on both sides with a tsp of oil. When you see golden spots on top, the parathas are done.

Serve with curds/yogurt and pickles!

Have a great weekend!